he was only saved by
certain of the princes and elders who were still faithful to the memory
of Josiah[10]. Then, again, Pashur, the chief governor of the temple,
smote him and tortured him[11]. At another time, the king, Zedekiah, put
him in prison[12]. Afterwards, when the army of the Chaldeans had
besieged Jerusalem, the Jews accused him of falling away to the
enemy[13], and smote him, and imprisoned him, then they cast him into a
dungeon, where he "sunk in the mire," and almost perished from
hunger[14]. When Jerusalem had been taken by the enemy, Jeremiah was
forcibly carried down to Egypt; by men who at first pretended to
reverence and consult him[15], and there he came to his end--it is
believed, a violent end. Nebuchadnezzar, the heathen king of Babylon and
conqueror of Jerusalem, was one of the few persons who showed him
kindness. This great king, who afterwards honoured Daniel, and was at
length brought to acknowledge the God of heaven by a severe chastisement,
on the taking of the city delivered Jeremiah from prison[16], and gave
charge to the captain of his guard concerning him, to "look well to him,
and to do him no harm; but to do unto him even as he should say . . . ."
An Ethiopian, another heathen, is also mentioned as delivering him from
the dungeon.

Such were his trials: his affliction, fear, despondency, and sometimes
even restlessness under them are variously expressed; that succession and
tide of feelings which most persons undergo before their minds settle
into the calm of resignation. At one time he speaks as astonished at his
failure: "O Lord, art not Thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken
them, but they have not grieved; Thou hast consumed them, but they have
refused to receive correction[17]." Again, "A wonderful and horrible
thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so[18]."
At another time, he expresses his perplexity at the disorder of the
world, and the successes of the wicked: "Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when
I plead with Thee; yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments: wherefore
doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that
deal very treacherously? . . . but Thou, O Lord, knowest me; Thou hast
seen me, and tried mine heart towards Thee[19]." Then, in turn, his mind
frets at the thought of its own anxious labours and perplexities: "Woe is
me, my mother, t